Cool Gadget, Or Stress Inducer?

A really cool pregnancy test is in fact causing stress and worry when the results don't match up to what doctors are telling moms-to-be.

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Pregnancy tests are becoming more advanced each year, with each claiming to be more sensitive than the other brands and even offering features that haven't been available before. However, the new Clearblue Advanced pregnancy test is reportedly creating problems with moms whose doctors tell them they're further along than the tests indicate.

Discrepancy causing stress and worry

The Clearblue Advanced pregnancy test not only tells a woman if she's expecting a baby — it also features a "weeks indicator," which reads out how far along she is: 1-2 weeks pregnant, 2-3 weeks pregnant, or over 3 weeks pregnant. However, women are finding that, after a visit to their health care provider, they are really further along than the readout says, which causes them to worry that their baby isn't developing properly.

The difference is easy to understand when you consider that the beginning of a pregnancy is traditionally counted from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period (LMP). These tests generally measure age of pregnancy from conception — a difference of two or so weeks, which accounts for the difference these women are seeing when they visited their doctors.

There are also varying levels of hCG present in pregnant women's urine — and the different levels don't mean that one pregnancy is viable while another is not. In fact, there is a huge range of "normal" hCG levels (check out the chart on this page to see how wide the range actually is).

A waste of time and money?

All said, are these pregnancy tests just a waste of time and money? Personally, the Clearblue Advanced pregnancy test sounds awesome to me. I took a ton of pregnancy tests over the three years of trying to conceive my fourth baby and became kind of a geek about it. However, I've always known the difference between a pregnancy dated by LMP and a pregnancy dated by fertilization age, so as long as you are aware that there can be a discrepancy, then you should be fine. But not everyone knows that, and what you think is a fun way to easily tell from home how far along you are can be a stressor.